


Christmas Truths

by angeldustjolie



Category: Maleficent (Disney Movies)
Genre: Aurora is pregnant, Christmas gift, Diaval does not like the turkey tradition, Diaval is the Santa, Diaval should heat up more Maleficent, F/M, Fluff, It's all a mess, Maleficent hates the cold, Maleficent is a cute reindeer, Never ask secret couples if they date, Romance, This is after Mistress Of Evil, This is something like a Christmas special, maleval
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:14:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28287543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angeldustjolie/pseuds/angeldustjolie
Summary: In winter, Aurora invites Diaval and Maleficent to a joint Christmas event in the castle with The Moors and Humans. What can go wrong?
Relationships: Aurora/Phillip (Disney), Diaval & Maleficent (Disney), Diaval/Maleficent (Disney)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 47





	Christmas Truths

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I'm sorry if there is any confusion in the translation, it is likely to be full of errors - Brazilian here! But I think it was understandable.  
> I'm still learning to capture the essence, so I hope it looks good. Merry Christmas!
> 
> (And I'm sorry if it was short, I wish I had more time. )

Maleficent, in particular, hated the cold.

Her appearance may seem to say the opposite, and in fact, although very beautiful, Maleficent definitely has an intimidating and somber demeanor - not that she didn't like it.

But not cold. She liked to be in a feather ball, wrapped in her wings and completely heated, reserving a warmth of her own. Of course, the last part changed over time, with another much smaller black feather ball sleeping on the curve of her neck when she was in a good mood. 

The cold reminded her of a time that she definitely did not like to remember, but for the past sixteen years, the painful memory of her torn limbs was what haunted her day and night. It was not just her wings that were mutilated, but pieces of her heart were gone with them. This pain became less recurrent with time, having a small plague on the side and its new pair of wings in the shape of a crow, but it never disappeared. Not even now that her wings were there, more attached to her body than ever and burning like red-hot fire, it hadn't disappeared.  
The phantom feeling of waking up without a part of her still suffocated her at times, and only a soft caw of a small, feathered black angel helped her turn her nightmares into gentle dreams. In summer, spring, and early fall, she hardly dreamed of anything, and when she dreamed it was disconnected. - something like a marriage declaration with her servant. Ridiculous, isn't it? How could your mind project such a dream? She didn't even think about it. No way. No men around, even if he was the most attractive raven-man in the world. 

But in winter, everything seemed to get worse. She slept badly, growled in her sleep, sometimes bursting into green fire. And yet he was there to help calm down and hopefully go back to sleep. With the beginning of winter, insecurity, anger, and especially fear, bubbled up on her skin like a post-traumatic stress that would never dissipate, although Stefan is dead, his Ghost will never be. 

Or at least, that was what she thought. 

━─━───────────────────────━─━

Everything was in chaos. 

She scolded herself internally for again giving in to Aurora's pleas. With that voice, those blond curls, and her pink cheeks, the queen again convinced her to participate in yet another human nonsense with that tireless speech of "I am also human!".

Apparently it was called 'Christmas'. 

After all that incident with the psychopathic goat queen, a war and many deceased ones, the higher powers decided that it was a good idea to hold a big party in the castle for yet another of those nonsense about religious celebrations that didn't make any sense. - Most chose 'yes'. Maleficent didn't have much to counter, she liked the peace and unity of kingdoms. It is obvious that she liked it, she experienced wars enough. But she didn't like a party that, on the human side, forced some sort of celebration of the birth of their beliefs or whatever that was. Anyway, that was a loophole, and she knew that from now on, this type of event would happen much more than once. 

Nonsense. Nonsense. Nonsense. She hated crowds. After technically dying and coming back to life, she became more flexible for a number of things as well as taking on many responsibilities. She long ago abdicated her post as Queen, Aurora was still Queen of the Moors, however, after the rebirth of the great Phoenix she was - or rather, they wanted her to be. - She had to become a great leader towards the Dark Fae. But being flexible didn't mean becoming one of those nice, kind ladies with long, frilly skirts. - It seemed that this was exactly what the situation demanded. 

"Majesty!" Knotgrass' voice broke her line of reasoning, and Maleficent never thanked to the skies so much for hearing it, however odious it was. - "Where do we put this?" 

With the help of Thistlewit, the little fairies with some discomfort erected some kind of ... Circle? Wheel? She didn't know what to call it, but it was very beautiful, adorned with pine leaves, pine cones, ribbons and everything. There were hundreds of them. It was something with -land at the end.

"The garlands would look good near the torches, don't you think, Phillip?" - Aurora, with a huge pregnant belly, answered absently while analyzing some huge menu lists for supper. This at the same time that the world became a hurricane around them. "Phillip?"

Her husband's voice came from behind a huge pine tree in the main hall. Filled with bright lights, small colored bubbles and various ornaments that were still being worked on. "Yes, definitely, the torches." - The intonation denounced that he had barely paid attention to the question.  
Millions of fairies flew back and forth in the hall, either helping humans with their wings to hang ornaments from the ceiling, or setting floating lights of magic. 

"Idiots," Maleficent whispered only to her and a raven man completely mesmerized. "What is all this for, anyway?" 

"Lights. There are lights everywhere. Mistress, they shine so much. How much light." Diaval looked ready to explode, trying to absorb everything at the same time. His eye-orbs spun with delight. 

Maleficent was sure that if he kept looking up without stopping, he would dislocate his neck or gain a retinal deviation. Against her will, she helped here and there from afar with magic. 

What a miserable day.

━─━─────────────────────━─━ 

Diaval thought of this pleasant climate.

In the evening, everyone gathered in the hall for supper. There was more food than he ever saw - Diaval was horrified by the main course on the table; a turkey. Why is royalty so fond of mistreating birds? He felt the same way at Aurora and Phillip's disastrous engagement dinner, but tried to ignore it. - as stressful as the day had been, it all paid off when the friendship between all kinds of creatures seemed to flow like cotton in the river. For a long time he lived long enough to see wars being fought, but he did not imagine that this would be included. 

Peace tasted good. Diaval knew that Maleficent was also pleased with that. She could be a little thing for such a bad mood, but her heart didn't fail. He knew her well enough to recognize the smile that went beyond her ruby lips to her multicolored eyes. 

Maleficent smiled inside. 

Aurora was being as sweet and gentle as ever with some dukes and lords from other kingdoms who also joined Ulstead's celebrations. The pregnancy suited her well, she seemed to be shining, although it had been a tiring day. Diaval and Maleficent were proud of their baby, she grew up to be a force of nature and nothing could stop her from being the strong queen she has become. This is Aurora. In the beginning, neighboring kingdoms were resistant to union with fairies - (Or as they said, 'freaks'.) - But this was more than perfect opportunity to show how timely everything was for all sides. Some remained resilient, but overall, nothing disturbing. 

And it was a surprise to everyone how tender Maleficent was being with the Dark Fae children and the human children. She was surrounded by them as they fumbled in a maelstrom of questions. But that was not only the admirable thing. For the first time, Maleficent was not wearing black as usual. - With miserable reluctance, she gave in again to the whims of Aurora who convinced her to use the color of wine. She would never accept vivid red beyond her lips, so it would be wine. Her long brown hair was loose, stuck in the way she likes it in half. And she again, wore gold rings around the horns and wing tips. This did not draw as much attention from humans - aside from some libidinous looks from men in other kingdoms, and for a brief second, Diaval cursed the way that Maleficent's dresses were especially low-cut. However, he knew it was ridiculous to be jealous of someone who didn't even belong to him, in fact, he belonged to her. - as for the Moors who were used to their dark and Gothic style, and the Dark Fae, who from the first day admired their elegance.

"How did you become a giant bird ?!" asked a little blond boy, amazed at the size of his wings. 

"I am a giant bird. But I also discovered it recently," 

Soon a much smaller girl asked, "Do your horns change color?" She barely had control over the words, she still seemed to have a hard time pronouncing some. 

Maleficent looked up thoughtfully. "Maybe I will try this sometime." 

Another girl, a slightly larger Tundra Fae than the previous ones, asked enthusiastically - "Do you and that bird man date?"

This question came very conveniently in a moment of brief silence in the hall. Or at least the most silent since some living beings in general were opposed to shut up.  
Maleficent hoped to have heard wrong, but that option was discarded when Aurora's uncontrolled laughter reverberated in response. Phillip pursed his lips, trying not to give in laughing too, knowing that if he did he would be dead, holding his wife by the shoulders when she almost burst out laughing. No one knew exactly whether she would have found the idea so hilarious as to have a fit of laughter, or if she was laughing out loud at the knowledge that this was an extremely delicate point. Most of the salon chose to believe in the first option, but The Aurora's godparents were smart and knew her well enough to know that it was the second option.

Diaval parted his lips in pure shock, his entire face starting to boil. Somewhere inside him wanted Maleficent to reply, and most desperately wished he hadn't. He knew that they weren't dating, and definitely they aren't a couple, but he wanted it to be true. God, he really wanted. Not only his heart and mind, but his natural laws prevented him from wanting to. Although he was very adapted to being a human, he was still a raven, and he would never be charmed by another female as he was charmed by Maleficent, her touch, her scent, her voice, everything about her was especially unique.

Diaval even considered leaving sneakily so as not to hear her pronouncement, and pretending he was not present at the time. But she apparently thought faster. 

He saw his Mistress turn red as a ripe strawberry, her sharp, violently flushed cheeks seemed to turn the fairy into a bomb. Her saucer-wide eyes resulted in a tangle of disorganized words. He was about to intervene when Maleficent hurriedly got up in a "Excuse me.", And his eyes turned even more to her when she left the immense hall. A group of children yearned for an answer, but she didn't have time for that.

Aurora immediately composed herself, making a move to get up urgently even if her feet protested. Diaval realized that she felt guilty and would go after her godmother, but he took the reins and decided to do this on his own, saving his freshman. It wasn't her fault. 

He needed to go after Maleficent.

━─━─────────────────────━─━ 

And Maleficent needed to hide.

She ran into the garden as fast as she could, taking care not to hurt her wings in the narrow back corridors. It was so cold, the skirts of her dress didn't seem to protect her from the shame that seeped deep into her bones. Maleficent sat on one of the stone benches in the garden while the falling snow began to rest on her lap. She wrapped herself in her wings, she needed air, she needed to hide. Perhaps a childish instinct inside her told her that if she hid behind her wings and didn't look at anyone, she would disappear. 

And that is what she did. 

But what Maleficent did not understand was why that question came up. Damn question led her to think of many disconnected things at the same time - The nights he warmed her when she wasn't hot. The day they met. His concern. His kindness. The sweet way he said "Mistress" every time. His fingers lightly brushing her primaries feathers. The day she smiled most genuinely to her. When she started telling the truth about what he was missing. Did they seem to be dating? Most important of all: Were they dating? And why for a second, while it filled her with fear, also filled her with a desire that was not just her imagination?

Diaval and she didn't need a wedding, she knew. They never brought it up, and there seemed to be no need. The way they looked after each other was beyond the edge of mistress and servant - it was something between friends but also beyond that. Their presence was vital to their existence, as if in case any of them disappeared, the other would cease to exist instantly. They exchanged their souls without a word, and without even wanting to, it was a consequence of fate and nothing could change that. She realized very late how painful it was to admit just now. Her independence complex was being affected by a child's silly question, and once again she let her down with her imbalance. Here she was, the winged woman who managed to rise from the dead and destroy castle towers - which were still being repaired. - but couldn't answer a simple question. Not knowing what she wanted. If she liked it. What she liked.

Warm hands touched her bare skin on the shoulder blades, immediately startling her, but she didn't move. She knew who it was, he was the only one who knew exactly the point she liked to be petted. Her muscles gave way to relaxation, although her face still exuded the tension of doubt, she purred quietly thanking that spark in the cold of winter. 

"Mistress," his voice was a whisper. "You don't have to answer, you know. It's okay to ignore and get back to insid-" 

"I'm fine out here," she replied stiffly.

He sighed weakly, letting out a breath of hot breath through the cold without realizing, directly on her silver skin, that he shivered more.

"You're not. It's cold here. I know that if you weren't going to disappoint Aurora, you would have already flown back to the nest and then left me here to eat it all!" He smiled that crooked and sweet way, trying to get some fun out of it . But she only looked at him under the shoulder seriously, as if questioning his thoughts. 

Diaval scratched the back of his neck, sitting down beside her. "It was supposed to be a joke," he laughed alone, without humor. A silence settled between them as he searched for the right words, and several snowflakes later, he finally continued. " I'm so sorry. " 

She raised her eyebrow. "Are you sorry for what?" 

"Because someone has considered the idea of you- we- ... Well, I constantly ask to stay in this form. This makes some impression."

Maleficent cast a look like she understood a little what he was getting at, but at the same time she was uncertain what he was trying to say. 

Diaval sighed, looking away from her as if that would make her unable to see him. "I feel good being a human because I can speak to you better than any other way. And I can also-" He broke off, berating himself about almost saying that he liked to touch her. "... The point is, can you decrease the frequency that I'm with you like this, from now on." 

Those words hurt. It hurt a lot for Maleficent to hear them, it hurt to know that he preferred to let go of his right of expression so as not to be mistaken as her companion. But it hurt a lot more for Diaval to say them. Being close to Maleficent, feeling Maleficent, listening and talking about and with Maleficent. It was all part of a routine, it was expected, they woke up and he wished her a good day while she complained about something. He smoothed her wings, and she laid her head on his shoulder when no one was around. It was part of their union, and it hurt more than a dog bite or a touch of iron from the inside out.

Maleficent felt some snowflakes accumulate on her own thick lashes, and she preferred to believe that this was the reason she blinked her eyes more than three times, and not the disbelief that settled in her chest. 

"It wasn't the question or the impression that bothered me." 

Okay, that changed everything. 

Diaval remained with his eyes on the snow, not daring to face. "What is it, then?" 

"The lack of an answer," she whispered.

He thought he heard wrong, but Maleficent ignored it and continued, squeezing his staff until his knuckles were white. "We're fine, aren't we?" 

" Of course, Mistress. "

"We do everything together. I still ... You know, this is not something I think about. I didn't stop to think about it. But if I thought about it ..." She fought the growing fear. "It would be you."

He looked up in disbelief. Diaval pinched himself discreetly, trying to wake up from a dream. It was not a dream. It was just, Maleficent. 

"It was always you. In a million years, it would still be you," he replied, receiving the same look he had. They were really doing it. "I know I can't make your past disappear, Mistress. I know that so much that breathing close to you is enough." 

Maleficent felt her breath catch, having no answer. Obviously she had no answer, he had the ability to leave her speechless. 

"I can't give you a fairy tale, Diaval." 

He just smiled. "I don't need a fairy tale when I'm living one."

━─━─────────────────────━─━

When the day became the next, and the formal festivities ended, there in the morning Maleficent, Diaval, Aurora and Phillip gathered near the fireplace to have a hot chocolate. Aurora slept lightly on Phillip's lap, exhausted, while Phillip stroked her big belly in peace. Maleficent had changed clothes, a more comfortable one and her own style. She had some kind of tiara with extra reindeer antlers on her head. Something about "Christmas spirit". - Another work by Aurora, and she as a soft mother that she was, accepted her whims again. 

"You really made a good family," Maleficent commented, suddenly kind, tender with her daughter's calm. She would soon have a grandson, or a granddaughter - her instincts told her that a prince would come.

Phillip smiled, embarrassed. Maleficent rarely gave him praise. "Thank you. Aurora is ... Everything for me. I don't know what I would do without her." He had devotion in his eyes as he pushed some blond strands out of his sleeping wife's blond hair

"Well, for a start, I would have serious problems managing everything," Diaval replied playfully. He was next to Maleficent, stroking her back as she yawned slowly, one hand on her lips politely. 

"I think it's really late. I hope the guest rooms are cozy." He straightened up, taking Aurora in his lap. Her expression twitched softly with the weight, but they soon adapted. "See you at breakfast. Good night." Diaval replied gently, while Maleficent just nodded. When the couple left, she took one of the wings around Diaval, satisfied.

"Mistress, I would like to give you a gift." He suddenly looked very nervous. "You can slap me, or maybe like it a lot."

"Oh, you must have a very controversial gift, then," she murmured. He just laughed softly.

" You have no idea. "

One of Diaval's hands came to her chin, his eyes meeting the golden orbs. She found herself plunged into the ocean darkness he had, while feeling anxious, she wanted to run again. Fear spreading throughout her body with rapid speed. 

"Here is my gift." 

Their lips connected, taking a shock wave through both of them when they shared the touch. She opened her eyes wide while his eyes closed in respect and adoration, his inexperience pressing against her ruby lips.  
She remembered her first kiss. She remembered the betrayal, the pain, the nightmares. She remembered not being able to walk, because she believed. And she also remembered the first time she saw him, confused, dirty, vulnerable. She remembered the first time he smiled at her, the first time she gave in to her whims, all the times he took care of her. This wasn't Stefan, it wasn't a fake kiss, and it didn't have to be a flawless love kiss either. Only of True Love. That was Diaval, his Diaval, her friend, her servant.

Her Lover.

And suddenly nothing else mattered. There was no past or future, only now. There was no destination, as they wrote their way with faulty footprints, however, united. Maleficent parted her lips and gently slid her tongue to touch him, her eyes closing in acceptance. He immediately put a hand on the back of her neck, pulling her close and giving her everything she wanted as he always did. He was inexperienced, without knowledge, full of embarrassment and uncertainty, and it was perfect that way. They explored the connection with each other together, communicating in a world that only they knew. 

After each other's delight, they both reluctantly parted ways, not wanting it to end. They even breathed exchanging two or three small kisses. She laughed weakly, with shame and happiness in her eyes. 

Diaval responded tenderly by exhaling from him. "Merry Christmas, Mistress." 

She whispered a small 'thank you' before answering it. 

"Merry Christmas, Diaval ... You can give me more gifts like that, now."

He laughed out loud, not caring about the time. She hugged him and he rolled her over the rug closer to the warmth of the fireplace, and Maleficent wondered when she fell in love so much. 

And then, suddenly, winter became good. She liked it. This thing. 

Called 'Christmas'.


End file.
